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Eggbert's Sunriser—A Hash Brown Goulash

Posted on March 1, 2014 by LFFL

Made with frozen diced hash browns, frozen steak fries, canola oil, salt & pepper, butter, onion, green bell pepper, red bell pepper, diced ham, sharp cheddar cheese, eggs, and salsa.

This was a big pile of goulash with a little bit of everything thrown into it—or so it seemed. I don’t think it really mattered what you put into this.

Once again, I must say—this would have probably tasted SO much better had I made my own hash browns from scratch instead of using the frozen store-bought kind that the recipe called for. I mean, I just followed recipe directions and, soon after, regretted getting the frozen variety.

I thought this was a pretty good dish for goulash, but “real” potatoes would have made a BIG difference—I know for a fact.

Melt the cheese in the oven.

Cook the steak fries.

Cook the hash browns.

Sautee the veggies & ham.

Top with shredded cheese.

Cheese melted.

And although a jalapeño is optional for this recipe, I did buy one just in case I wanted to use it. I’m not a spicy foods girl so I was reluctant to even bother with it. As I sliced the jalepeño, I made the mistake of chopping a teeny tiny part and tasting it. That was a HUGE MISTAKE!!! And I mean HUGE!

I didn’t realize my tongue and lips were going to burn for an eternity while I sucked ice cubes, drank milk, soaked cotton balls in milk and put them on my tongue, and everything else I could think of to put out the fire—OH THE MISERY!! Why would I think a piece of jalapeño THAT tiny would burn the dickens out of my mouth?!

Needless to say, that darn jalapeño went straight to the garbage and never made an appearance into the recipe or my LIFE ever again!

Once you’re done with the goulash, make some eggs to your liking and top the goulash with the eggs and some salsa.

Recipe for—Eggbert’s Sunriser

So, if you have nothing else to do today, try your hand at some hash brown goulash with some fresh potatoes.

Take-Away Life Lesson: NEVER pop a raw jalapeño piece into your mouth to taste it no matter how tiny of a piece it is unless you have about 30-45 minutes to set yourself on fire.

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Italian Turkey Meatballs

Posted on February 28, 2014 by LFFL

Made with breadcrumbs, Parmesan cheese, fresh basil, fresh parsley, milk, ketchup, tomato paste, salt & pepper, eggs, minced garlic cloves, onion, ground dark turkey meat, Italian turkey sausage, and extra-virgin olive oil.

Sauce made with extra-virgin olive oil, smashed garlic cloves, onion, salt & pepper, fresh basil, ground fennel seeds, dried oregano, and crushed tomatoes.

It was a meatball dinner night! And, ohhhhh, how I could taste the fennel and oregano in the sauce mixture. So spot on.

Chop some fresh basil.

Sautee the onions & garlic with ground fennel & oregano.

Throw in crushed tomatoes.

Roll the meatballs.

I believe a good-sized meatball should be no smaller than the size of a baseball—but if you must go smaller, no smaller than a golf ball.

I imagine these meatballs would be good loaded on top of some spaghetti just the same as straight for dinner by themselves. The recipe did not call for making a pasta dish, so straight down my pipe they went as is.

Recipe for—Italian Turkey Meatballs

So, if you have nothing else to do today, make some good time meatballs for dinner anyway you like them.

Take-Away Life Lesson: No need to make tiny-sized meatballs when you can make them the size of a bowling ball from the onset.

A Patty Melt Day

Posted on February 17, 2014 by LFFL

Made with butter, onions, ground beef, Worcestershire sauce, salt & pepper, Swiss cheese, and sourdough bread.

A lot of the recipes I make I either see on the Food Network or in one of the food magazines I get each month. I usually decide what to make based on:

What I feel like eating that day
How delectable the dish looks on television or in the magazines
Observing the whole process involved in making a dish because I don’t like overly complicated recipes that would wear me out

Today was a simple patty melt day.

Carmelizing the onions.

Cooking the beef patties.

Grilling the sandwich golden brown.

Ready to eat.

This turned out to be a pretty good burger, but I must say I think I prefer a different type of cheese other than Swiss for my burgers—like maybe cheddar. I also missed my ketchup, mustard, and mayonnaise toppings.

I didn’t want to turn the burger into something else entirely, so I opted to eat it as is. And though it was good, all I thought about was cheddar cheese and ketchup during the eating process.

Recipe for—Patty Melts

So, if you have nothing else to do today, try a patty melt the recipe way or spruce it up and make it your way.

Take-Away Life Lesson: When you’re missing and wanting ketchup and cheddar cheese, just go get the ketchup and cheddar cheese. Life’s too short not to have the condiments and side items you really want.

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Drunken Goat Grilled Cheese

Posted on February 16, 2014 by LFFL

Made with sourdough bread, drunken goat cheese, baby arugula, butter, and roasted shallot mayo.
Roasted Shallot Mayo made with shallot, garlic clove, olive oil, salt & pepper, and mayonnaise.

Well, this was my first time having drunken goat cheese. Even though I had never heard of drunken goat cheese before, I already knew where I’d easily be able to locate some—at the health food store.

Whole Foods has hundreds of every type of cheese imaginable. When I went to the cheese department to ask for it, they gave me a sample of it. I could really taste the wine inside the cheese. It was marvelous—then again, I’m a cheese lover through and through after all.

Roasting the shallot and garlic in the oven for an hour caused the kitchen to have that strong garlicky smell just permeating throughout the house.

I ended up with WAY more arugula than what was required for two sandwiches. There was only one size arugula container for purchasing. I had no other use for the rest of it and I certainly didn’t want to make 30 grilled cheese sandwiches!

The recipe didn’t specifically say to spread both sides of both slices of bread with the mayonnaise mixture, but you’d probably want to in order to get that crisp golden brown color on each slice as it’s frying side down in the skillet.

Recipe for—Drunken Goat Grilled Cheese

So, if you have nothing else to do today, try a sample of drunken goat cheese at your local store and then wander home and make a grilled cheese sandwich out of it.

Take-Away Life Lesson: Make sure you can put the rest of the huge batch of arugula to use for some other reason if the only possible size that you can buy it in is a large batch to begin with.

Bananas Foster—My Favorite Topping Ever

Posted on February 15, 2014 by LFFL

Made with butter, dark brown sugar, heavy cream, bananas, pecans, and cinnamon; served with vanilla ice cream.

Oh my, oh my, oh my, oh my, oh my, oh my, oh my, oh my, oh my. Wow.

Brown sugar into melted butter.

Add sliced bananas and pecans.

Stir all that goodness together.

The combination of all that warm butter and brown sugar just made me swoon—and then have the nerve to add bananas and pecans into the mix! Just throw all that warm goodness on top of vanilla ice cream and you’re pretty much done for the day.

The actual recipe also calls for dark rum, but I skipped that part of it. For all you rum lovers out there, you’ll be adding a few extra “oh my’s” to your dessert should you add the rum.

Earth Balance Butter — The, oh so, delicious butter I used.

Recipe for—Bananas Foster

So, if you have nothing else to do today, get yourself a pot of bananas foster going on the stove.

Take-Away Life Lesson: You can pretty much say you’ve lived a long fulfilling and happy life after a bowl of this.

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Cookies & Cupcakes From Love

Posted on February 14, 2014 by LFFL

Made with Pillsbury Big Deluxe Chocolate Chip cookie dough and Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip cookie dough; with sprinkles on top.

I had a beautiful and fun day today with my 5-year-old niece who spent the entire day with me baking her little heart out. I must say, this is all her handiwork. And we’re talking almost 50 cookies!

Though all she had to do was tear the pre-cut cookie dough from the package—she DID put the sprinkles on all by herself! This is a talent in and of itself. You’re either born with it or you’re not. After all, sprinkling is an art form.

She also had a tub of cookie dough which required using the mini-scoop, squeezing the scoop—which took all the strength she could muster from both of her tiny hands, and then dropping the balls onto the baking sheet.

Made with Betty Crocker Chocolate Fudge cake mix, eggs, canola oil, and water; with sprinkles on top.

Here is more of her handiwork in these bite-sized mini-cupcakes. She whirled the cake beater till the batter was good and smooth, put the liners in the cupcake tin, poured the batter from a measuring cup into each individual paper liner, then strategically placed each individual sprinkle by hand one-by-one exactly where she wanted them to go.

And that’s three batches of 24—THREE! For a minimum of 72 mini-cupcakes that needed sprinkles.

So, if you have nothing else to do today, do some baking with your little nieces, nephews, or some random kids.

Take-Away Life Lesson: Allow a minimum of 13 hours for strategically placing sprinkles one-by-one for each round of cupcakes and cookies.

Divine Hot Potatoes

Posted on February 9, 2014 by LFFL

Made with small yellow potatoes, olive oil, salt & pepper, butter, and Parmesan cheese.

This was one of the most quick and simple things I’ve ever made. I love when I find recipes like this. They didn’t last long at all once they came out of the oven. I just couldn’t get enough of them. They became my snacks throughout the day.

These potatoes were SO good that I had to make a second batch of them the very next day. But I used cheddar cheese instead of Parmesan for the next go round. Those didn’t last but a hot second, too.

Boil potatoes in water.

Line potatoes on a baking sheet.

Mash and top with all the fixins.

I did have to add a little extra salt for a tad more flavor once they hit my plate but, nonetheless, I had a good time!

I try not to over-salt things during the cooking process because I can always add more salt after it’s done to suit my taste level. Once you over-salt in cooking, you’ve pretty much ruined it—helpful tip to keep in mind.

Recipe for—Hot Potatoes

So, if you have nothing else to do today, get to know the small yellow potatoes in your local grocery store because you might really want to try these.

Take-Away Life Lesson: Sometimes it’s the least complicated recipes that really can come out the best.

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